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Danny Trejo in Necessary Evil (2008)

User reviews

Necessary Evil

11 reviews
2/10

Uninteresting plot, characters, and execution. Even Scientologists would find this hard to swallow... and they believe in a guy named Xenu.

I pride myself on being able to watch terrible movies and still finding them enjoyable. Unfortunately, Necessary Evil defeated any chances of viewing pleasure. Generally, I feel some connection to at least one of the characters in the film. This is one movie that I can say that I couldn't find any connection and instead just had spite. Was it wrong for me to wish that the "heroes" of the film would die? Probably, but they were just that uninteresting that I couldn't care less about what happened to them.

The writing would have made a better novel than a movie. I understand the film had multiple plot points, but conveying them with a narration was perhaps the wrong tool to move along the story. I think they chose narration because it slowed the movie down so they could a hit an hour and a half of viewing displeasure. To make matters worse the movie was already plodding along at such a slow pace that drawing it out was a completely unbearable addition.

It's sad to think the most interesting part of the movie was watching the seconds tick by when I'd hit the display button on the DVD player. As far as thrillers go "Necessary Evil" was about as thrilling as cottage cheese.
  • jjcobra26
  • Jul 30, 2009
  • Permalink
1/10

Please don't waste your money on this turkey!

Yet again, I am in the doghouse. My wife and I take turns to select DVDs and it was my turn to get the latest episode of "Lost" and one other. Knowing Lance Henriksen, I thought this might be OK, I was sadly mistaken. There is virtually no plot, much of the acting is barely above high school play level, and Henricksen's (?) voice-overs, instead of injecting a sense of "film-noir" into the mix are simply irritating. Even the monster effects are about as frightening as something out of a Godzilla flick. One of the other reviewers expressed regrets that this garbage didn't reach a wider audience. My regret, apart from renting it in the first place is that they even bothered to make it. Some editions have a "Species" type cover that looks pretty cool. Don't be fooled, Species is a clever and entertaining little franchise. This is pure, unadulterated crap.
  • Russell62
  • Jan 1, 2010
  • Permalink
5/10

GREAT,LATE NIGHT B-MOVIE FUN!!! TWISTY, MYSTERY THRILLER.

This was a very clever,intriguing mystery that just kept unravelling,it kept me guessing & excited,a very well crafted,well-plotted little B-movie Gem. The mixing of Genres is clever & fun. A cool unusual plot of a corrupted pharmaceutical company & a dark insane Asylum linking to missing people & monster Dna testing!!! Great,pure late night B-movie fun.

There's parts sci-fi Thriller,parts Monster Horror & parts Detective Mystery all weaved together very cleverly. Lance Henrikson is great as usual,he's a B-movie icon & lifts this cheap flick higher with a very cool,sinister performance & i loved his gravelly voice telling the story,very cool.

We are treated to another B-movie,Cult hero legend,Danny Trejo who i love watching in anything & the reason i brought this on dvd. Trejo is Cool here as a bad guy,tough mercenary working for Lance Henrikson's evil scientist. It's not a huge part but his role is done well & he's the 2nd "Name" actor of the movie as the other cast members are unknown-to me anyway.

Necessary Evil is a fun,unfolding Mystery full of twists & turns & conspiracy theories,Ancient Monsters, tough mercenaries,mad scientists, Detectives & a very sinister but Fun turn by Henrikson & a Cool,tough Trejo!!! Well worth checking out if you like B-movies or those 2 actors. Good solid film.
  • lukem-52760
  • Jun 25, 2019
  • Permalink
1/10

Trite, clichéd, badly written, poorly executed.

  • JoeB131
  • Aug 8, 2009
  • Permalink
1/10

Amateurish Effort at Best

  • wallismcclain
  • Oct 24, 2010
  • Permalink
1/10

Unnecessary movie

  • metalrage666
  • Nov 14, 2013
  • Permalink
8/10

killer flick

I viewed "Necessary Evil" the other day and I must say, I rather enjoyed the experience.

Smart, unpredictable, and multi-layered, I saw it as a statement about the ever-growing, ubiquitous presence of pharmaceuticals in our daily lives, couched inside a creepy thriller.

The film unfolds through multiple viewpoints and weaves a tale of corruption and conspiracy with supernatural roots.

As usual, Lance Henriksen delivers a strong performance.

The film certainly has its share of flaws. But all in all, I recommend it.
  • imageslayer
  • Mar 23, 2010
  • Permalink
6/10

Surprising, .. surprisingly weird as well

After a good kick off the movie is surprising and takes weird turns and I liked that.The sound editors could have done a better job and the empty spaces in sound made me wonder sometimes. I noticed that necessary evil is also a game book but its hard to tell if this movie is related to that. That this movie did not get that much attention must have been because its weirdness but then again, Danny Trejo does what he does best and some other well known actors showed their typical faces.Therefore I think that this movie deserves more attention. Everyone who likes a psychedelic weird surprise will probably enjoy this movie. And that this partly less experienced actors and writers/directors could have pulled this off is worth a Praise.

Still not great but worth watching.

6 of 10
  • xinix111
  • Feb 24, 2009
  • Permalink
8/10

Well done...

Having re-watched this movie just recently, I thought I should add a review. I am not a film critic, by any means, I just know what I like. And I like this. Lance Henriksen is always good. This role was suited for him in every way and I can't wait to see where they take this in the future. The idea of how much pharmaceuticals play in our lives makes for a good story. The movie paced good enough to keep me interested throughout. Timing was perfect. The actors did a good job of really bringing the scrip to life, and Lance Henriksen's narration, gave the movie a nice creepiness that played well with the theme. I look forward to a sequel with Lance Henriksen reprising the role and Peter Eaton at the helm.
  • rodv
  • Nov 16, 2010
  • Permalink
8/10

pretty incomprehensible

But then again it was Lance Henriksen - and I would forgive him anything. Big smile :-D

It's about time the IMDb stopped with the minimum line length for reviews: it only encourages crap. Okay, this was a very B movie that I watched only because I absolutely love Lance Henriksen. Or is it Lance Hendrikson? Has that gained me another few characters? This is a very B Movie but that voice makes any movie he appears in worth watching, in my opinion. :-)

Have I got to 10 lines of text yet? Sheesh: watch this if you love Lance. Otherwise, don't bother.
  • inoshi
  • May 31, 2010
  • Permalink
10/10

great movie

great movie A+++++++++ director did a fantastic job.

i would also recommend seeing gravity and sweet good fortune they all are great.

i would recommend all these movies to somebody who really enjoys a great movie.

movies have a great plot and necessary evil really shows that with great suspense and the acting was perfect.

the movie was smart and unpredictable had a different twist to it than most movies.

id give this movie a 10
  • joeex94
  • May 17, 2010
  • Permalink

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